Stand Around Playing With Their Keys, Finding Reasons Not To Leave, Trying to Hide the Chemistry

Booth rapped his knuckles against the door loudly, listening for sounds of movement on the other side as he jingled his keys impatiently in one hand and held a six pack in the other. Tilting his ear closer to the door, he heard his TV playing something on what appeared to be full volume coming from within Bones' apartment, and he rolled his eyes. "I'll never use that" she'd told him as he set it up in her living room.

Shuffling his keys in his hand, he pulled up her apartment key between his fingers and unlocked the deadbolt. They were in this strange in-between place since burning their wishes, and he was determined to make up for lost time. He'd spent most of his evenings with Hannah before they broke up, and it wasn't until she was gone that he'd realized he'd been spending very little time with Bones. Not anymore. As far as he was concerned, his free time now meant Bones time.

Turning the doorknob, he pushed the door open with his shoulder, only to feel it jerk back as the chain lock at the top of her door stopped it from opening further and bounced back at him. Simultaneously, the sound from Bones' apartment turned terrifying quickly as several high pitched screams hit his ears. Feeling panic rise in his throat, Booth dropped the beer, gripped his sidearm with one hand and turned sideways, ramming the door with his shoulder. Intent on getting inside and shooting whoever was making Bones scream like that, he slammed his shoulder into the door three more times before finally breaking the chain lock. The door flew open and he aimed his gun into her dark living room.

"Booth!" Bones shouted from her seat on the couch, her legs were pulled up to her chest and she was wielding the writing award that typically sat on her console table behind the sofa like a weapon.

"What the hell, Booth?" Angela shouted, whipping a throw pillow at his head as he stood, wide-eyed and gun drawn, staring at the three women cuddled up on Bones' couch with some kind of green goop on their faces.

"There's nobody else here?" He asked, his eyes darting around the apartment, scanning over doorways. "No intruder?"

"Seeley… you can put the gun away. The only intruder here is you." Camille told him, snapping him out of his stupor. Glaring around the room once more for good measure, Booth replaced his gun into the holster and rolled his now throbbing shoulder.

Clearly having found her own faculties, Bones disentangled herself from Angela's death grip and stood up and put down the heavy glass award. Glaring as she walked past him, she picked up the case of beer that he dropped in the hallway and closed her door. "You broke into my house." She accused, handing him the beer and propping her fists on her hips.

"You were screaming." He replied dumbly, still not entirely sure what was happening.

"Because you were breaking down the door." Bones' retort was paired with narrowed eyes and a smirk she couldn't hide any longer.

"I thought you were in danger." He told her, clearing his throat awkwardly. "I, uh, I was worried." He added, swallowing hard as his adrenaline began to regulate again. It was only then that he was able to truly appreciate how ridiculous the women looked with the goop on their faces as they glared at him, Ange and Cam from a blanket cocoon and Bones in front of him.

"We thought you were the undead." Angela told him matter-of-factly as she and Cam shifted away from each other.

"We are all, in fact, not dead." Bones corrected, rolling her eyes as if she was entirely above all of the nonsense of being afraid of a zombie movie because she could logic her way out of being scared. He knew better.

"Undead or not, if someone is breaking down your door, you get a gun, not… whatever the hell that is." He said, gesturing at the award that he knew damn well was something given to her when she'd sold a million copies of her first book.

"We weren't afraid." She defended, narrowing her eyes at him. As if on cue, the creature on whatever movie they were watching jumped out, eliciting screams from Angela and Cam again, and a slight gasp from Bones. "It's startling. Biologically, we can't help but jump." She said in her defence when he raised a brow at her. "What are you doing here, Booth?" She asked, changing the subject.

"I was, uh, you know, bored, and I thought… maybe if you were bored too, we could…" He started, painfully aware of the extra eyes watching them from the other side of the room.

"... be bored together?" She suggested, tilting her head to the side in question, and he couldn't help but think how adorable she looked, standing there in her face mask and a pyjama short-set that he realized now matched the ones Cam and Angela were also wearing.

Booth shrugged lamely, feeling suddenly all too self-conscious to be standing in Bones' living room during what was clearly some kind of girls' night. "I— I mean, you're busy—"

"He brought beer. I vote for him to stay." Angela piped up with a knowing grin, and Cam nodded eagerly in agreement. Something told him that they had motives for trying to get him to stay, outside of the beer he'd brought and the threat of the undead, especially since Angela couldn't drink.

Waving his finger in a circle around Bones' face, indicating the goop with distaste, "Nah, you ladies are… doing whatever the hell all that is." He said, receiving a glare from the goopy face in front of him.

As if she'd forgotten about the weird crap on her face, Bones' brought a curious hand up to her face and ghosted her fingertips over what now appeared to be more of a dried clay consistency.

"Well, you can't leave now." Angela said again, elbowing Cam as if she thought she was being discreet.

"Yea, you broke the damn lock, Seeley. You're not leaving us unprotected now." Cam added her two cents, and Booth glared at them, knowing these three were the last women to claim damsel in distress for real. Booth looked down at Bones' wide blue eyes, wondering what she was thinking.

"I can stay if you want… you know, to fix the lock." He told her, hoping she'd let him stay despite knowing he had interrupted their night, if he gave her a good enough reason.

"You know where the toolbox is." She told him, crossing her arms across her chest and working her jaw. Of course, that little impervious piece of shell was still stuck there, wasn't it? She needed that plausible, unromantic and totally-not-scared reason to ask him to stay for a bit.

With a wink, Booth disappeared to her hall closet and retrieved the tool box, opening it on the floor to ensure he had everything he'd need. When he stood up, he bumped into Bones coming out of her bathroom, her face clean now. "Ah!" He whispered in mock terror. "Oh, it's just Bones." He said with a laugh, standing face to face with her in the narrow hallway.

"Very funny." She told him in a tone that said she definitely did not find him funny. Her face, however, was sporting a smirk that said otherwise. "Thank you for staying to fix the door." She said quietly, clearly as aware of the eavesdroppers in the other room as he was.

"Yea, well, I did break it." He told her, shrugging and feeling his shoulder twinge with pain. "Ah.." He gasped, rolling it slowly to try to work out the muscle.

"Did you hurt your arm on the door?" She asked, her brow furrowing with worry as she reached toward it. "I know you hate breaking down doors with your shoulder for this exact reason." She said absently as she rubbed the joint with expert fingers and he remembered a bickering conversation they'd had where he'd said exactly that to. "You should have used your foot." She added softly in reprimand.

"Yea, well, I just— I was scared, and you sounded scared… I just wanted to get in here as fast a possible. I wasn't really thinking about my shoulder." He admitted, and she met his eyes with her's, wide with worry.

"You were scared?" She asked, and he nodded silently, letting her see the vulnerable side. "You said you would tell me when you're scared, so that I can give you a guy hug. Do you want one now?" She offered, wrapping her arms around his waist before he had a chance to reply. Relaxing in her embrace as she turned her head and rested her cheek against his chest, he wrapped his free arm around her, holding her close to him and resting his chin on the top of her head. "This is nice." She murmured quietly.

"Yea, this is nice." He agreed, pressing a kiss to her hair before releasing her. "Thanks, Bones— for the, uh, for the guy hug." He told her, gazing into her eyes and wondering if they'd ever just get to the point where they could hug without having some weird excuse for it.

"Of course." She said casually, before leading the way back out into the living room. He followed behind her, toting the toolbox and heading to the door as she took her place on the couch.

It only took a few minutes for Booth to remove the dangling lock hardware and replace it a few inches lower on the door frame. "I'll bring over some putty and sandpaper and fix the holes tomorrow." He called as he took the toolbox back down the hall to the closet.

"Thanks Booth." Bones said as he returned to the room and picked up his keys from the counter.

"No problem. I guess I'll, uhm, I'll leave you ladies to the rest of your night." He said, fidgeting with his keys as he stood near the door. Bones rose from the couch and came to stand by him, biting her lower lip. "You'll be all right now?" He asked, hoping she'd say no and ask him to stay.

"Yes. We should be fine." She agreed, sounding reluctant. He opened his mouth to reply when something caught his attention across the room.

Glancing over, he saw the drip fall from her kitchen faucet. "Is that thing still leaking?" He asked, walking back toward the counter and dropping his keys on the surface again. "I thought you said you called the guy to fix this?" He asked, fiddling with the taps.

"Yes, I did. He said it was fixed, but apparently not." She informed him, following him into the kitchen.

"You should probably get your hands on her pipes, Booth." Angela called from the living room, tossing popcorn into her mouth.

Cam laughed and smirked at him from across the room. "Yea, Seeley. Things are bound to get pretty wet. You'd better deal with that." Angela damn near cackled at that and Booth made a mental note to seek justice at a later date.

"I think they are making euphemisms for intercourse." Bones whispered to him across the counter, and he nodded in agreement. "I'll go get the toolbox." She told him as he crouched down and looked under her cupboards.

It only took Booth a few moments to get the taps properly tightened so they were no longer dripping while turned off. With a flourish, he turned them on and off and waved at his good work. "What else ya got, Bones? Agent Fix It is on the case." He joked, receiving a beaming smile from his partner and snickers from the peanut gallery.

"I think that concludes all of my current home repair needs." She told him, her eyes darting to his shoulder as he rolled it again. He watched as she reached for his keys, toying with them against the counter. "Perhaps you should stay, Booth. Your shoulder seems to be bothering you. It's probably not safe for you to drive." She suggested, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

"I mean, it's not that bad, Bones." He admitted, not wanting to admit that he'd kill to get home to some ice and some icy-heat rub.

"It would be safer if you stay here. Cam and I are both doctors. We can monitor it and ensure you don't have any lasting damage." She said quickly as she strode past him to her freezer and pulled out a bag of peas. "Come, sit down." She instructed him in that professor tone that left no room for argument.

Catching Cam's smirk only briefly as Bones tossed a large cushion on the floor and guided him to sit down in front of the empty couch seat, he followed her lead before she climbed into the seat behind him.

"Best to leave your care to the professionals, Booth." Angela teased quietly.

"Precisely. Take off your shirt." Bones demanded, and he turned quickly to look at her, sending a shocking pain up through his shoulder that had him too busy wincing to further inquire as to why she was telling him to strip. She held up a jar of muscle rub and rolled her eyes at him. Following her instructions, reluctantly only because of their active audience, he carefully lifted his shirt off, wincing as his shoulder ached with the movement.

"Thanks, Bones." He murmured quietly as she began methodically massaging the cooling gel into his muscles. "We gonna hit play on this movie, or what?" He asked after several moments of silence stretching where he knew Angela and Cam were too busy watching their personal favourite show: Brennan and Booth.

He didn't know who pressed play, but someone did, and he turned his attention to the screen again, basking in the feel of Bones' talented fingers kneading into his muscles. He didn't bother to mention that the gel had been completely rubbed in for some time now, and neither did she. Leaning back against her crossed legs in the darkened living room, he felt her hands spread over to his other shoulder. Methodically rubbing both of his shoulders now, her thumbs working up and down the column of his neck.

"Hey. Booth. What's a guy hug?" Angela whispered over the eerie movie soundtrack.


As the sun rose and shone through Bones' guest bedroom window on his face, Booth sat up and stretched carefully, hoping his shoulder would be back in good shape after the lengthy massage Bones gave him. Satisfied, he slid his jeans on and t-shirt back on and padded out toward the living room where the ladies had claimed they were going to camp out. He'd declined to join that part of the slumber party, citing his high maintenance back as an excuse before retreating to the back room after the movie.

"Good morning, Booth." Angela greeted him in her patented flirty tone.

"Ladies." He replied, heading toward the counter. As he approached, Bones handed him a cup of coffee silently. "Thanks." He said softly, catching her eye.

"I have to head out." Cam said as she placed her mug into the sink. "The longer I leave Michelle home alone, the more I remember how creative I got with my home alone status at her age."

"See you tomorrow, Cam." Bones said as she and Ange took turns exchanging hugs with their friend.

"I should, uh, probably head out soon too, huh?" Booth said once Cam had gone. Bones nodded, and he picked up his keys off the counter, jiggling them in his hand, reluctant to leave again. Despite the cackling and snickering, he'd actually enjoyed hanging out with the girls. Walking to the door, Booth stopped before unlocking it and turned back toward the kitchen. "You guys wanna go grab some breakfast?" He offered, holding his keys up in the air. "I'll drive."

"Pfft. We can drive ourselves. Tell us you're buying and we're in." Angela joked, grabbing her purse off the counter. "I've gotta get home and make sure Hodgins hasn't blown up the house." Angela told them. "You guys enjoy your breakfast though." She added, waving her fingers at them as she slipped past Booth and out the door.

"Breakfast?" He asked again once they were alone.

"Okay." Bones nodded, joining him at the door. He slung his arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the apartment, locking up the door for her and twirling his key ring on his finger as they strolled down the hall toward the elevator.